As promised, here is Part 2 of @dustinragusa24’s deep-dive into Oklahoma State’s offensive performance against Texas Tech. Check back tomorrow for Part 3.
Rushing Attack
Zone “Cap”
As a reminder, the terms Inside Zone and Outside Zone refer to blocking schemes that have the offensive linemen blocking specific gaps instead of a certain defender. If an O-lineman has a defender lined up in front of him, he blocks him. If he doesn’t have a defender lined up in front of him, then he steps toward the side the play is going and either helps double team block a defender or moves to the second level (think linebackers or safeties playing up near the line of scrimmage).
One of the ways the Cowboys found success on their zone runs against Tech was with a “cap” blocker. In previous film reviews from this season, I’ve talked about Split Zone, where the Cowboy back blocks across the formation. With “cap,” the Cowboy back will block the edge defender on the Cowboy back’s side of the formation, normally the linebacker in TTU’s defensive scheme. See an example below.
The Pokes also ran something similar out of one of the 12 personnel looks I mentioned in Part 1, with a Cowboy back on the line of scrimmage as a tight end and the other as the H-back on the same side of the formation. This “double cap” was mainly performed on the right side of the formation, allowing these two additional blockers to be paired with talented WVU transfer offensive lineman Josh Sills. This is shown in the following clip.
The line blocked the zone running plays well, and Jackson did an excellent job reading his blockers and finding the running lanes.
Power/QB Power Read
Power normally involves a lineman pulling around to the play side to lead block through the hole. This is different from a zone run in that the offense’s point of attack is predetermined. In the play below we see the backside guard pull around to the play side and lead block through the hole. In addition, the Cowboy back lined up in the fullback spot will kick out the edge defender, while the rest of the offensive linemen (including the other two Cowboy backs) block down, or away from the play side.
We also saw Dunn get the designed quarterback running game going in this one more than he has in any of the games prior (I’m assuming part due to defensive schemes and part due to Sanders being banged up), specifically the QB Power Read.
The blocking scheme is similar to the Power run shown above with the back-side guard pulling, but this time the quarterback is reading the defense and is making a decision to keep the ball inside or hand it off the to the outside. This is a play we saw run fairly frequently with the Taylor Cornelius-led offense of 2018.
In the video below you’ll see the Pokes utilize the fly motion with receiver Landon Wolf.
QB Sweep
Lastly, I wanted to touch on this play because it’s similar to the “Truck” sweep I touched on in the Bedlam and K-State film reviews. Truck consists of one bunch receiver blocking down on the defensive end, one blocking the defender over him and the third receiver “arc” blocking around to the second or third level as a lead blocker for the running back. In addition, the play side tackle will pull and also lead block for the running back. The rest of the line is basically blocking a zone scheme, but sometimes there is an additional pulling lineman. Here’s an example of this play against the Sooners.
However, against the Red Raiders, Dunn threw in a wrinkle by allowing the QB to be the ball carrier. Additionally, the running back, Jackson, went in motion to the outside to try and bring a defender out of the play.
Check back tomorrow for Part 3, where we’ll look at OSU’s passing attack.